Lead high impact enforcement work that shapes environmental outcomes across the North West.
At United Utilities, we’re committed to delivering water services in a way that protects the environment, supports our communities, and strengthens our sustainability performance. As our new Environmental Enforcement Manager, you’ll play a pivotal role in safeguarding our environmental credibility and ensuring we respond to regulatory enforcement with professionalism, accuracy, and strategic clarity.
This is a highly influential role that combines expert regulatory knowledge, leadership, and the ability to bring people together. You’ll build and lead a specialist function, oversee the full lifecycle of enforcement activity, and help drive real improvements that reduce future risks and strengthen our relationship with the Environment Agency (EA).
What you’ll be doing:
In this role, you’ll lead the end‑to‑end management and governance of all enforcement activity, ensuring that every submission is robust, defensible, and delivered on time.
Your key responsibilities will include:
* Enforcement leadership: Manage all regulatory enforcement processes including appeals, enforcement notices, warning letters, and enforcement undertakings.
* High‑quality submissions: Ensure all responses meet statutory deadlines and demonstrate the highest standards of accuracy, evidence quality, and professionalism.
* CAR & incident oversight: Provide expert review of CAR form challenges and incident category assessments, ensuring inaccuracies are addressed early and effectively.
* Governance & consistency: Build standardised processes, templates, and quality controls to ensure a consistent and defensible approach to all enforcement cases.
* Cross‑functional coordination: Bring together operations, technical experts, legal teams, environmental specialists and senior leaders to produce unified organisational responses.
* Technical escalation: Act as the expert escalation point for complex, high‑risk or strategically significant enforcement matters.
* Strategic alignment: Work closely with the Environmental Regulatory Relations Manager to ensure enforcement activity aligns with wider regulatory engagement strategies.
* Trend analysis: Monitor enforcement outcomes, patterns, and underlying issues to identify systemic risks and drive business‑wide improvements.
* Insight for leaders: Provide guidance, reporting and intelligence to senior stakeholders on current and emerging enforcement risks.
* Sector representation: Represent UU in discussions with the EA on, as well as at industry forums to influence sector‑wide practices.
What we’re looking for:
Qualifications
* A degree or equivalent in an environmental, technical, legal or regulatory discipline.
Experience
* Significant experience in environmental regulation, compliance management or enforcement processes within the water sector or a similar regulated industry.
* Proven experience preparing high‑quality regulatory submissions that could include appeals or enforcement responses.
* Experience managing complex, time‑critical cases and coordinating multidisciplinary inputs.
* Strong understanding of EA enforcement processes, and associated regulatory requirements
* Exceptional analytical skills and the ability to interpret complex technical and regulatory information.
* Strong written communication with the ability to produce clear, compelling and evidence‑led submissions.
* Highly organised and capable of managing multiple cases under pressure.
* Confident influencing and negotiation skills, able to engage effectively with regulators and senior stakeholders.
* A continuous improvement mindset with the ability to identify systemic issues and drive operational change.
* Leadership capability to guide specialist practitioners and coordinate wider contributing teams.
What we offer:
We want you to feel supported, valued and rewarded for the work you do. You’ll benefit from:
* 26 days’ annual leave, rising to 30 after four years, plus 8 bank holidays
* Competitive pension with up to 14% employer contribution (21% combined)
* Up to 20% performance‑related bonus
* Company‑funded healthcare plan
* Recognition awards for exceptional performance
* A flexible, hybrid working model with three days a week onsite to support collaboration
* More onsite time may be needed initially as you get to know the team and the role.
About United Utilities:
United Utilities delivers water and wastewater services to more than seven million people across the North West. We’re committed to operating in a way that respects the environment, supports the economy, and benefits local communities.
Proudly ranked #11 in The Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers List, we celebrate diversity, inclusion and innovation, creating a workplace where everyone can grow, excel and truly be themselves.
When you join UU, you’ll be part of a supportive, purpose‑driven organisation that’s working to create a cleaner, greener, more sustainable future.
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